Ranking the Cowboys’ 4 biggest losses during the 2022 offseason

The Dallas Cowboys have been able to keep some key players like DeMarcus Lawrence and Dalton Schultz in the offseason. But sadly, they’ve also lost some big names to trades and free agency. We all knew this offseason would be a tough one. The salary cap struggles meant cuts and trades would be necessary. We knew the roster would look different, but it’s never easy to say goodbye to players, especially ones who have had long-term spots on the team.

In less than a week’s time, the Cowboys lost four critical players: Connor Williams, Amari Cooper, Cedrick Wilson, and Randy Gregory. One was a trade, two were free-agent pickups, and one actually was supposed to be on the Cowboys for a whole 90 minutes. At some point in their time in Dallas, each one of these players made a key play or helped their team win a game. Now, they will be wearing different jerseys in 2022.

Everyone in Cowboys Nation has their opinions about who should have stayed and who should have left, but we wanted to do our own ranking of the four biggest players who left the team so far. We will go in order of who the team will miss the least to who the team will miss the most.

Ranking the 4 biggest Cowboys losses of the 2022 offseason

4. Connor Williams, Guard

You probably saw this one coming. The 2021 season made Williams an easy goodbye. But before we talk about that, we can reminisce just a bit on his impact in Dallas. Williams was drafted out of Texas in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft. The former Longhorn became an immediate starter at left guard for Dallas.

One positive thing Williams brought to the team was his durability. Williams started in 51 of 57 games in his four years with the Cowboys. In 2019, he missed the final five games of the season with an ACL tear. However, after that, he played all but one snap in the 2020 season. These good times were sadly overshadowed by a rough 2021 campaign. The 24-year-old was a penalty machine. He led the league in holding penalties and ruined several key moments with false start and holding flags.

Despite all of this, Williams remained at the top of several top free-agent lists due to his young age, durability, and potential. This year, several NFL teams are in need of strong offensive line talent. The Cowboys will undoubtedly have a starting role to fill as well. But the Miami Dolphins capitalized on Williams. The AFC team signed him to a two-year, $14 million deal with $7.5 million fully guaranteed. Passionate Cowboys fans took to Twitter to troll Miami and let them know their true thoughts on the guard.

There is a chance he cleans up his act and does well for the Dolphins, but the Cowboys certainly won’t miss the 2021 version of Williams. From here, it’s incredibly hard to rank the next three. They were all players we hoped would remain in Dallas.